Colin Batley was the head of a small and secretive Satanic sect known to its members as “The Church.” Born in London, he claimed to have been sexually abused by his father as a child and worked a series of odd jobs including a stint as a night security guard at a grocery store before moving to Kidwelly, a small village in southwest Wales, in the mid-1990 with his wife Elaine.
Even before the move, Batley had developed an interest in the works of Aleister Crowley and in the darker side of the occult. Several early followers with similar interests moved with the Batleys to Wales and they all bought homes on the same street. Batley and four women in the group got identical tattoos of the Egyptian eye of Horus symbol on their arms.
Batley created his own version of Crowley’s Black Mass based on his own interpretation of Crowley’s The Book of the Law. An altar was set with salted bread, a chalice of red wine, and an incense burner, and after a ceremony that included readings from Crowley by Batley, members would take off their clothes and engaged in sexual activity. While some of these acts were consensual, the group also coerced new members into the acts and in time began to sexually assault minors as part of their practice.
Batley kept vicious Rottweiler dogs to intimidate followers and would often threaten members with death if they did not stay in line. Citing Crowley’s assertion that “prostitution is to be admired,” he forced several women in the group into sex work against their will, keeping 25% of their earnings. One of these women was said to have had 3,000 clients over a period of about two years.
In February 2008, Batley’s son died in their home from accidental hanging during a sex act, which he filmed on his mobile phone. An inquest found no suspicious circumstances, but a neighbor would later note that Batley did not seem to be at all distressed on the day of his son’s funeral, stating he was “laughing and joking like he didn’t have a care in the world.”
The group’s activities came to light in 2010 when two adult victims, a man and a woman, reported the abuse to the police, leading to the arrest of Batley and other leading members. Five victims provided court testimony, detailing how they were lured or brought to cult members’ homes for sexual abuse. One girl said that she had been raped by Batley at age 11, testifying that “sex with him was a test, and if I did not pass, I would go to The Abyss.” Another minor said that she was passed around among adult members as a “sex toy.”
After a five-week trial in early 2011, both Batleys, as well as three female members of the group, were convicted on multiple charges. Batley was found guilty of 35 offenses, including 11 rapes, several counts of child sexual abuse, and four counts of possession of child pornography. Elaine Batley was released from prison in 2014 after serving a little more than three years in prison, while another woman was released in 2017 after serving six years. The third woman was acquitted.
Colin Batley is expected to remain in prison for the rest of his life.
Key Sources:
Forest, A. (2014). The Devil on the doorstep: My Escape From a Satanic Sex Cult. Simon and Schuster.
Morris, S. (2021, September 24). Colin Batley, leader of sex cult preying on children, could spend life in jail. The Guardian.
O’Sullivan, C. (2018, November 27). The Bristol prostitutes and Satanic sex cult that horrified a country. Bristol Post.
Wales Online (2013, March 21). Jury told of West Wales “sex cult.”
Woodland, D. (2025, March 20). “High priest” of cul-de-sac sex cult who had sinister three-woman coven and treated child victims as “sexual playthings” should be moved to open prison, Parole Board says. Daily Mail.
Encyclopedia of Cults, Sects, and New Religious Movements 